Luís Castro (football manager, born 1980)
Portuguese football manager
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luís Manuel Ferreira de Castro (born 7 May 1980) is a Portuguese football manager, who is the head coach of La Liga club Levante.
 Castro in 2022 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Luís Manuel Ferreira de Castro | ||
| Date of birth | 7 May 1980 | ||
| Place of birth | Moreira de Cónegos, Portugal | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Levante (head coach) | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 2002–2005 | Vizela (youth) | ||
| 2005–2007 | Moreirense (youth) | ||
| 2009–2010 | Vizela (youth) | ||
| 2011–2012 | Al Nassr (youth) | ||
| 2012–2015 | Vitória Guimarães (youth) | ||
| 2018–2019 | Vitória Guimarães U23 | ||
| 2019 | Panetolikos | ||
| 2019–2022 | Benfica (youth) | ||
| 2022–2023 | Benfica B | ||
| 2023–2025 | Dunkerque | ||
| 2025 | Nantes | ||
| 2025– | Levante | ||
Career
Early career
Castro was born in Moreira de Cónegos, Braga District, and began his managerial career with the under-10 squad at Vizela. In 2005, he was invited by Moreirense to be their youth coordinator and manager of the under-19 squad.[1]
In 2009, after a year in charge of the under-14s of the Braga Football Association, Castro returned to Vizela. In 2011, he moved abroad and took over the under-15 team of Saudi club Al Nassr.
Castro returned to his home country in 2012, after being named manager of Vitória de Guimarães' under-15 squad. He then took over the under-19s and worked as a youth coordinator before moving to Hungary in July 2016, with Debreceni VSC.[2]
In 2017, Castro returned to Vitória de Guimarães under the same role, and was also in charge of the under-23s in the 2018–19 season.
Panetolikos
On 30 May 2019, Castro was named manager of Super League Greece side Panetolikos.[3][4] On 11 October, he was sacked by the club.[5]
Benfica
Castro joined Benfica on 27 November 2019, after being named manager of the under-23s.[6] On 2 June 2022, after leading the under-19s to the UEFA Youth League title, he took over the B-team, before winning the Under-20 Intercontinental Cup with under-20s.[7][8] In 2022–23, he led Benfica B to a 15th place in Liga Portugal 2, close to relegation.
Dunkerque
On 26 September 2023, Castro was named new manager of Ligue 2 club Dunkerque.[9] During the 2024–25 season, he led the side to a play-off position (being knocked out in the semifinals), and also reached the Coupe de France semifinals[10] (being knocked out by eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain).
Nantes
On 11 June 2025, Castro was appointed manager of Ligue 1 club Nantes.[11][12] He was fired in December.[13]
Levante
On 20 December 2025, Castro was appointed as manager of La Liga club Levante.[14]
Managerial statistics
- As of match played 29 August 2026
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Panetolikos | 1 July 2019 | 11 October 2019 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0.00 |
| Dunkerque | 27 September 2023 | 30 June 2025 | 78 | 38 | 12 | 28 | 48.72 |
| Nantes | 1 July 2025 | 11 December 2025 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 13.33 |
| Levante | 20 December 2025 | present | 25 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 40.00 |
| Career total | 124 | 50 | 24 | 50 | 40.32 | ||
Honours
Benfica[15]